Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Boston War Babies

I was looking through the Boston birth records today and found some patriotic names from the war years:
  • George Washington Appleton, b. 27 October 1775 to Nathaniel and Rachel Appleton
  • Samuel Adams Dorr, b. 1 July 1775 to Ebenezer and Abigail Dorr (a note in the records indicates that little Sam Adams was born in exile in Medfield, though his birth is recorded in Boston)
  • Israel Putnam Dawes, b. 17 May 1777 to William and Mary Dawes
  • Moses Hazen White, b. 8 November 1778 to William and Mary White
  • Henry Knox May, b. 18 May 1780 to John and Abigail May
  • Benjamin Franklyne Adams, b. 6 May 1782 to Samuel and Catherine Adams
There were some loyalist names, too:

Gravestone of the Day: Hermon Heaton

Hermon Heaton, 1792, Sheldonville, MA
In memory of
Hermon, son of
Mr. Isaac Heaton
& Mrs. Thankfull
his wife; who
died April
ye 21st, 1792,
aged 2 years

Monday, August 30, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Abigail Blood

Abigail Blood, 1783, Pepperell, MA
N.B. The Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
In memory of
Mrs. Abig'l. Blood, relict of Mr.
John Blood deceas'd, who died
very suddenly (probably of the
apoplexy) upon ye 7th day of
Novr. 1783 In the 61st
Year of her Age.
She was a person of a tender heart;
constant & conscientious in her
duty to GOD & man. ~
"Blessed is that servant whom, his
"Lord when he cometh
"shall find so doing.

"N.B." is striking me as funny — maybe it just sounds incongruously legalistic preceding a Bible verse.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Ezra Angier

Ezra Angier, 1747, East Bridgewater, MA
HERE LYES Ye BODY OF
EZRA ANGIER Ye SON
OF Ye Revd: Mr. JOHN
ANGIER & Mrs: MARY
HIS WIFE, WHO
DEPARTED THIS LIFE
JULY Ye 29th 1747
IN Ye 10th YEAR
OF HIS AGE ~
Reserved for a glorious
Resurrection

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Thomas Cogwell

Thomas Cogwell, 1761, Haverhill, MA
THOMAS
COGWELL
SON OF MR
JOHN AND
SARAH COG
WELL DIED
AUGUST 6
1761 AGED
3 WEAKS

Friday, August 27, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Cornelious Tinkham

Cornelious Tinkham, 1739, Nemasket Hill Cemetery, Middleboro, MA
HERE LYES ye
BODY OF CORNELIOUS
TINKHAM SON TO
JOHN TINKHAM
WHO DIED APRIL
ye 16th 1739

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Around the Internet

  • Let the Corpses Decay: Readers of the Daily Dish object to modern burial practices. I agree with the sentiment — I don't find embalming particularly respectful of the dead. See Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death for more on this subject.
  • New Life in U.S. No Longer Means New Name: Sam Roberts of the NYT writes that fewer immigrants feel the need to Anglicize their names when they arrive in the U.S. I'm not sure I agree entirely — he doesn't really account for Asian immigrants who use English first names (sometimes informally, sometimes legally) or Latino immigrants who alter surname traditions so that all members of the family have the same surname (I saw this with many of my students in CA). As far as I know, my grandparents' families did not alter their names when they arrived in America, but they did take some steps to Anglicize their first names. My father, Mark, is named for his grandfather, Americo, and my grandmother goes by Angeline, though she was named for her mother, Angiolina. One branch of Pete's family came from Norway in the 1840s and abandoned their patronymics for the surname "Hill."
  • Dissolving Your Earthly Remains Will Protect the Earth: New Scientist brings us a new option for green burial — aquamation. Thanks, Pete!
  • A Quest to Make the Morgan Seaworthy: Restoration efforts are underway to make Mystic Seaport's 170-year-old whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan, seaworthy once more.

Gravestone of the Day: Prisscilla Coddington

Prisscilla Coddington, 1688, North Baptist Burial Ground, Newport, RI
HERE LYETH BURIED
Ye BODY OF PRISSCILLA
CODDINGTON THE
WIFE OF THOMAS
CODDINGTON AGED
34 YEARS DEPARTED
THIS LIFE AUGUST Ye
7th 1688

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Abijah Fisk

Abijah Fisk, 1774, Grove Hill Cemetery, Waltham, MA
Here lies Buried
the Body of
Mr. ABIJAH FISK
who departed this life
June ye 25th, AD 1774;
in ye 45th Year of
his Age.
Come listen all unto this call,
Which GOD doth make to day,
For You must die as well as I,
And pass from hence away.
The Race is not to the Swift,
Nor the Battle to the Strong.

It cracks me up to see such a beautiful, elaborate stone with a line gouged out so inexpertly. What did that line say? Who chipped it out? I find it hard to imagine that a carver who applies such a light hand to "AD" would have sent a stone out of his shop with a line half-erased so roughly. It doesn't look like it said "departed" — I wonder if it was a piece of information that the family decided that they did not want included after they saw the finished stone.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Emely Whitney

Emely Whitney, 1813, Wrentham, MA
In memory of
Emely Whitney, Dautr. of
Mr. Nathan & Mrs. Priscilla
Fischer; who died April 14th.
1813. Aged 13 Weeks.
Why so hasty, little stranger,
To be gone from earth away?
True, it is a world of danger,
Many ills attend thee here;
Yet maternal love solicits,
And invites thy longer stay.

Google cannot find any other instances of this verse, meaning that it may be an original composition. If it is, it is one of the better efforts I have seen lately.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Butterworth Children

Rachel, Alfred, and Lewis Butterworth, 1795, Sheldonville, MA
In memory of Rachel,
Alfred, & Lewis; Daughter
& Sons of Capt. Noah &
Mrs. Rachel Butterworth;
Alfred died Septr. ye 12th,
1795. aged 2 years, Rachel
ye 25th, aged 7 years, & Lewis
ye 27th, aged 7 months.

I do not know who this carver is, but I am intrigued by his work. Every stone he cut looks as if it were designed for the Sturbridge Village gift shop. These stones were made between the 1780s and 1820s and tend to feature geometric tympanum designs rather than figures, urns, or plants. I have only seen his work in Sheldonville, MA, which is just over the border from Cumberland, RI.

Some other carvings:
Ruth Heaton, 1781, Sheldonville, MA
Hannah Harskell, 1788, Sheldonville, MA

Anyone out there know who carved these stones? Until I know his name, I will  call him the Sheldonville Geometric carver.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Matthew Johnson

Matthew Johnson, 1696, Woburn, MA
HERE LYES Ye BODY OF
LIEUTENANT MATTHEW
JOHNSON AGED 62
YEARS DIED IULY 19
1696

Here's another Matthew from Woburn. Matthew is a fairly unusual name in colonial Massachusetts — not unheard of, but not common like Ebenezer or Mehitabel. I wonder if these Woburn Matthews are related and named in honor of one another.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Jonas Peirce

Jonas Pierce, 1800, Grove Hill Cemetery, Waltham, MA
IN
memory of
Jonas Peirce,
--- Jonas & Mrs. Eunice Pierce;
--- died June 15 1800;
aged 2 years & 3 months.
Happy the child who privileged by fate,
To shorter labour & a lighter [we]ight,
Receiv'd but yesterday the gift of breath
Summon'd tomorrow to return to death.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: William Metcalf Mann

William Metcalf Mann, 1817, North Burial Ground, Providence, RI
That Life is long which answers Life's great End.
Erected in Memory of
the Virtues which distinguished
the Life of
MR. WILLIAM METCALF MANN,
Printer,
who died March 2, 1817,
in the 23d Year of his Age.
He was the second Son of
Mr. ALFRED MANN, of Smithfield,
and by his Enterprise, Integrity
and Intelligence, promised to reward
[the] Hopes of kindred Affection.
--- was assailed with a deceitful
--- which prematurely removed
--- Joys and Activities
--- of Life,
--- hence where Virtue
--- eternal Reward.

I wish I could find a transcription of this epitaph. I really want to know what is deceitful.

This epitaph caught my eye because it purports to be a monument to William Metcalf Mann's virtues, rather than to the man himself.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Mathew Richardson

Mathew Richardson, 1723, Woburn, MA
Mathew Richardson
Son of Mr Thomas
& Mrs Rebeckah
Richardson, Aged
1 Year 10 Mo & 1
Day Decd Febry
11th 1722/3

Matthew is one of those names that sounds so familiar and classic to modern ears that it often comes as a surprise to me that it was not really all that common in 18th-century Massachusetts. It was not among the top 25 names given to Boston-born baby boys in 1710, which means that fewer than 5 boys (out of 885) received this name. Maybe it sounded too Catholic-y?

In general, New Testament names were not as popular as Old Testament names among colonial New Englanders, with the exception of a few that were very common names in England (like John and Joseph). Names like Paul, Mark, Luke, etc. were fairly rare, but there were tons of Ebenezers, Josiahs, and Ephraims. The names of archangels — Gabriel, Michael, Raphael — were also rare, especially in the 17th century. In Albion's Seed, David Hackett Fischer argues that these names (along with Emmanuel) may have been regarded as immodest.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Daniel Guild

Daniel Guild, 1795, Wrentham, MA
Here lies Deposited
The remains of Mr
DANIEL GUILD
who Died June 22d. 1795
Atatis 58 who for 40 Years
was employ'd as a Saxon in
Commiting his fellow mortals
to the silent tomb.
Oh! Stranger
Contemplate that ere long
thy dust must mix with
mine -------------

Another epitaph cut short by an unfortunate preservation effort. Most of the old stones in Wrentham's Central Cemetery are embedded in concrete strips that keep them in straight, mowable lines. Sadly, many of the epitaphs were cut off when the stones were sunk into the concrete.

I think that Daniel Guild was probably a sexton, rather than a Saxon, but who am I to nitpick? I always love finding gravestones dedicated to carvers and others who made their livings creating the graveyards in which they were buried. It's interesting to see how they were memorialized. Daniel Guild (or his family) chose a winged skull that was decidedly old-fashioned by 1795. The Fisher/Farrington shop was still producing these stones in the 1790s, but they were not the height of fashion.

Some other stones dedicated to men in the mortuary industry:


Josiah Manning, 1806, Windham Center, CT

John Stevens, 1736, Newport, RI:

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Rev. Joshua Gardner

Rev. Joshua Gardner, 1716, Haverhill, MA
HERE LYES BURIED IN Ye LAND OF
FORGITFULNESS Wt WAS MORTAL OF
REVd Mr JOSHa GARDNER A MAN
GOOD BETIMES & FULL OF Ye HOLY GHOST
& OF FAITH OF AN EXCELLENT TEM
PER OF GREAT INTEGRITY PRUDENCE
& COURAGE , PASTr OF Ye Chh IN HAV
ERHILL 5 YEARS WHO HAVING FAITH
FULLY IMPROVED HIS TALENT FELL
ASLEEP IN JESUS & WENT TRIUM
PHANTLY TO RECEVE HIS REWARD
IN HEAVEN MARCH Ye 21 ANNO DOMINI
1715/16 [?] ÆTATIS 27 [heb?] 12.9
1 CO[R] 15.19

What a great phrase — "ye land of forgitfulness." It comes from Psalm 88, which is one of the most mournful of all the Psalms.

I'm having some trouble reading those last two lines. It looks like there are two biblical citations, but I can't really make them out.


The first looks like it could be Hebrews 12:9, but I'm not entirely convinced that it is. Those lettrs could be "heb, "  but why would they be lower case when the whole epitaph is upper case?
Hebrews 12:9 — Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

The second could be 1 Corinthians 15:19 or Colossians 1: 15-19. Both verses have something to say about "the dead" and I think Corinthians is probably the most appropriate, but I can't convince myself that that is an "R."

1 Cor 15:19 —
 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
 20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. 

Col 1:15-19 —
 15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Guesses?

Monday, August 16, 2010

Gravestone Identification Challenge


Here's a little challenge from reader RJO:
The gravestone fragment shown here was recently found in the South Street Cemetery in Fitchburg, MA. South Street is Fitchburg's first cemetery, and the earliest stone dates to 1766. This fragment may have been buried under the leaves somewhere, or been tossed over the fence and returned by a neighbor who came across it. In any event, it has not
been recorded before.

Whose stone is it?

I can tell you this fragment is 72 cm tall and the family name is Thurlo, and what's left of the stone reads:

]d the
T]hurlo,

]arah
]ed
]. Age
]ths


]in
]tchburg.

First of all, what can you deduce just from this fragment alone?

Going further, using only Google and the information above, I think I've figured out who the stone belonged to, or at least have narrowed it to two possibilities, but I could be wrong. See if you can track it down yourself. (If you're like me, the first track you take will be a side track, rather than the main route.)
Anyone up for the challenge? I've done a little poking and have some leads, but am not as confident as RJO! Leave thoughts in the comments.

Gravestone of the Day: William Blood

William Blood, 1759, Pepperell, MA
His sorrowful Widow erects
this Stone to the Memory of
Mr. William Blood, who died
in the Service of his King
and Country in the Camp at
Crown Point Novbr 6th 1759
in the 48th Year
of his Age
From deaths arrest no Age is free

Here is another stone that names its purchaser and has a self-referential epitaph.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Whitman Fisher

Whitman Fisher, 1814, Wrentham, MA
Erected
In memory of
WHITMAN, Son of
Mr. Timothy & Mrs. Sally
Fisher; who was killed at
the Battle of Chippewa
in upper Canada, July 5th.
1814. In the 15th. year
of his Age.
Tho' the brave youth,
With love of virtue fir'd;
Who bravely in his Country's
----------

The final lines of this epitaph were destroyed when the stone was set into a concrete base that keeps it in a straight line with the other stones in its row. It appears to be a quotation from Act 4 of Joseph Addison's play, Cato: A Tragedy (1712):
There the brave youth, with love of virtue fired,
Who greatly in his country's cause expired,
Shall know he conquered.  The firm patriot there
(Who made the welfare of mankind his care)
Though still, by faction, vice, and fortune, crost,
Shall find the generous labour was not lost.
I know nothing about the Battle of Chippewa. I was somewhat surprised by Whitman Fisher's youth — his gravestone indicates that he was 15, but the only records I have been able to find list his birth date as August 15, 1800, making him 14 at his death on July 5, 1814.
 

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Miriam Walton

Miriam Walton, 1732, North Burial Ground, Providence, RI
Here lies Inter'd (with her two
Infant Daughters) ye Body
of ye Vertuous & very Pious
Mrs. Miriam Walton, late
Wife of John Walton Gent.
she Gloriously Departed
this Life on ye 10th Day of
Novr. AD 17[3?]2. AEtatis
suae 29.

I don't know whether I've ever seen "Gent." as an honorific on a gravestone before.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Rhoda Sargeant

Rhoda Sargeant, 1774, Haverhill, MA
Mrs RHODA SARGEANT
CONSORT OF NATHLL
PEASLEE SARGEANT
ESQr DIED OCTr 9h
1774 IN THE 40h
YEAR OF HER AGE
THIS MONUMENT IS
ERECTED TO HER MEMORY
HERE THE WEARY
ARE AT REST
AND THE WICKED CEASES
FROM TROUBLEING

Is this an original stone or a reproduction? Something about it seems a little off, but I may just be unfamiliar with the carver.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Around the Internet

Gravestone of the Day: Baby Tinkham

Baby Tinkham, 1730, Nemasket Hill Cemetery, Middleboro, MA
HERE LYES THE
BODY OF ye SON
OF SETH
TINKHAM AND
MARY HIS WIFE
STILL BORN
JANY 26 1729/30

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

"At some point, we have to put some faith and trust in our authority figures."

I promise a shiny gold star to the first person who can make it through this article on the privacy rights of on-duty police officers without LOLsobbing.

Who Knew?

Another great headline from CNN.com: Karl Marx died poor? Who knew?


Yes, it is shocking that a 19th-century freelance philosopher, political organizer, and pamphleteer died nearly penniless. I always thought that Communist theorists were raking in the dough.

My only explanation for this is that someone at CNN thinks that Communism is a philosophy espoused exclusively by trust fund kids who sit around in Che Guevara t-shirts, critiquing capitalism while spending their oil baron daddies' fortunes on tuition and pot. Thus, it would stand to reason that Marx was really a self-loathing millionaire, rather than a man who could barely feed his family.

Gravestone of the Day: Ledyard Hide

Ledyard Hide, 1796, East Bridgewater, MA
In memory of
Ledyard son of Mr
Ephraim Hide & Mrs
Mary his wife he
died Nov, 20th 1796
Aged 6 weeks

Life is a dream, a morning flower
Cut down & witherd in an our:

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Abigail Mitchel

Abigail Mitchel, 1714, Haverhill, MA
HERE LYES ye BODY OF
Mrs ABIGAIL ye WIFE OF
Mr ANDREW MITCHEL
WHO DIED DESEMBER ye
12 1714 AGED [2?]4
YEARS

This stone showcases the "ornimorphic" forms noted by Allan Ludwig. These bird-like shapes are characteristic of carvings from Ipswich, MA executed during the early years of the 18th century.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Six Percent Revisited

Andy Hall, guest-blogging for Ta-Nehisi Coates, takes on the myth of the 6% in a new post, "Small Truth Papering Over a Big Lie."

In addition to Joseph T. Glatthaar's study of the Army of Northern Virginia, which Hall mentions, I recommend the following books to anyone who is interested in the question of white Southerners' investment in slavery:
I'm glad to see this issue getting some attention on a blog with such a large popular readership.

Jackson

Today, Hark! A Vagrant presents a brief, humorous biography of Andrew Jackson in comic strip form.

Gravestone of the Day: Richard Warner

Richard Warner, 1768, Pepperell, MA
ERECTED
In Memory of Mr
RICHARD WARNER
he Departed this Life
Sept. the 15th, 1768 in
Ye 93d Year of his Age.
He was a Kind & Loving husband,
A pleasant & tender Parent, Compas
sionate to the poor, diligent in bu
siness honouring God with his
Substance, & now, is gone to receive
a reward for his past labour.

It looks like this carver initially left the d off of "husband" — the comma suggests that he didn't intend to put it on another line and the size of the d is much smaller than the last two letters of "receive." Dropped ds and ts are not uncommon in New England gravestones.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Ebenezer Convers

Ebenezer Convers, Woburn, MA
EBENEZER
CONUERS SON
OF JAMES & HAN-
NAH CONUERS
AGED ABOUT 5
YEARS DIED

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Pottery Barn Museum Collection

I hope I can point to this collection without sounding like a shill for the nostalgia-peddling, over-charging swindlers who run Pottery Barn. Their latest evil plan involves teaming up with the American Folk Art Museum and the Shelburne Museum to make a couple of gorgeous reproductions available to the mass market under the title of The Museum Collection. Curse you, Pottery Barn. It is so hard to criticize you when I am drooling over your merchandise.

I have gone on record as a critic of the American Folk Art Museum — I think that their collection, which includes both 18th-century needlework and the paintings of Henry Darger, is incoherent* — but they do have some amazing quilts. The exquisite Sunburst Quilt that is being reproduced by Pottery Barn was made by Rebecca Scattergood Savery of Philadelphia sometime in the 1830s or 1840s. Pottery Barn's catalog description does not attribute the quilt to its quilter, preferring the passive voice — "The original was crafted near Philadelphia around 1835 . . ." — even though the quilt's authorship is fairly well documented.


The Museum Collection also includes two reproductions of hooked rugs from the Shelburne Museum. While I do not find these rugs nearly as appealing as the sunburst quilt, I have enjoyed reading their catalog descriptions. When the catalog says that "hooked rugs are believed to be indigenous to America," I have visions of little woolen squares scampering through the forests or growing on beach plum bushes.

* I don't have a problem with Henry Darger — I just think that featuring ordinary handicrafts of the 18th-century alongside 20th-century "outsider art" tends to encourage a the modern viewer to perceive the 18th-century objects as idiosyncratic, rather than as the mainstream productions of an historical era.

Gravestone of the Day: Freelove Windsor

Freelove Windsor, 1783, North Burial Ground, Providence, RI
IN Memory of
Mrs. FREELOVE
WINDSOR,
the late amiable
Consort of
Mr. Olney Windsor,
who died Feby. 17th.
A.D. 1783, in the
28th. Year of her
Age.

Freelove was a fairly popular name in 18th-century Rhode Island, though I have not seen it much elsewhere. Freelove Windsor was the wife of Olney Winsor, whose gravestone appeared yesterday.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Olney Winsor

Olney Winsor, 1837, North Burial Ground, Providence, RI
Sacred to the Memory
of
OLNEY WINSOR, ESQ.
who died March 15, 1837,
in the 84th year
of his age.

He sustained through life
the character of a sincere Friend,
an affectionate Husband & Father,
an active & intelligent Citizen,
a true Patriot & an honest Man;
fuly believing
the truths of Divine Revelation,
his life was regulated by its precepts,
& his death
cheered by its promises.

The Tingley brothers stones in Providence don't have the same personality as the hand-carved stones, but I still find them appealing. The slate is so fine, the letters are so precise, and everything is so well preserved. They always draw my eye.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Lydia Dyar: NOT an Enemy to Her Country

Boston Gazette and Country Journal, 28 March 1774 via America's Historical Newspapers
Lydia Dyar, whose flamboyantly patriotic gravestone in Billerica is the subject of the essay I am working on at the moment, was a small-scale merchant. Nearly every spring between 1760 and 1774, she advertised in the Boston newspapers, touting her new stock of imported garden seeds. At her shop in the North End of Boston, customers could find a variety of vegetable seeds — cabbage, spinach, carrot, turnip, lettuce, cucumber, squash, cauliflower, pea — along with beans, herbs, and flowers.

Even during the height of the nonimportation crisis, the Widow Dyar continued to buy seeds from London and Messrs. Edes and Gill of the Gazette, strong Whigs both, continued to run her ads. Unlike the unfortunate Cummings sisters, whose business activities attracted the ire of a tar-and-feather-wielding mob in October of 1769, Lydia Dyar and the other seed sellers of Boston went unmolested. The March 6, 1769 issue of the Boston Gazette carried five seed sellers (Lydia Dyar, Abigail Davidson, Elizabeth Greenleaf, Bethiah Oliver, and Susanna Renken), all of whom advertised their wares as imports. A year later, when tempers were running high over the Boston Massacre, Dyar omitted the word "imported" from her ad, though two other sellers (Davidson and Renkin) still advertised their seeds as "Imported in the last ship from London" (Boston Gazette, 9 April 1770).

"Burn a Confederate Flag Day"

General J.C. Christian from Jesus' General is leading a campaign to get progressives to participate in "Burn a Confederate Flag Day" on September 12, 2010. He envisions it as a counter to the 9/12 Tea Parties and hopes that it will expose the Tea Partiers' "conscious effort to show African Americans as subversive and anti-American and to tie that to Obama."

My first question: should participants burn the Confederate national flag to protest the Confederacy's assault on the U.S. Constitution or the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia to protest the ongoing racism of the Lost Causers?

Gravestone of the Day: David Marsh

David Marsh, 1777, Haverhill, MA
In Memory of Deacn
David Marsh who
Departed this
Life novemr. the
2d. 1777 and in
the 80th. year
of his age

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Gravestone of the Day: Benjamin Chamberlin

Benjamin Chamberlin, 1778, Pepperell, MA
THIS MONUMENT
Is Erected in Memory of
Mr. Benjamin Chamberlin
who departed this Life
in the Continental Army
at Valleyforge in the
year 1778; In ye 17th
year of his Age.
He was ye Son of Mr. Phineas Chamberlin
and Mrs. Lydia his wife.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Name of the Day: Sweeten Reed

Mr. Sweeten Reed lost £200 in real estate during the Boston fire of 1760:

He (or a son with the same name) went on to marry a woman named Anna and had at least one child.

Gravestone of the Day: Submit H. Smith

Submit H. Smith, Grove Hill Cemetery, Waltham, MA
SUBMIT H.
Wife of
ABIJAH P. SMITH,
Died Sept. 1, 1849,
AET. 70.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Tea Partiers Visit Colonial Williamsburg

Bless those first-person interpreters. I did my share of first-person impressions in my reenacting days, and I can only imagine how annoying it must be to give 18th-century responses to visitors who are more interested in 21st-century politics than in 18th-century history.

Gravestone of the Day: Edward Thurston

Edward Thurston, 1706, North Baptist Burial Ground, Newport, RI
HERE LYETH THE BODY
OF EDWARD THURSTON
WHO LIVED 90 YEARS
& DEPARTED THIS LIFE
Ye 28 DAY OF FEBRUARY
1706

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Restoring Daguerreotypes Digitally

Cincinnati, 1848, Cincinnati Public Library
Pete's friend, Ross, is getting his Ph.D. in computer vision at the University of Rochester. One of his recent projects involved magnifying and restoring a series of daguerreotypes taken by Charles Fontayne and William Porter on September 24, 1848 in Cincinnati. Strung together, the daguerreotypes show two miles of the city's waterfront.

A story about the restoration project appears in this month's Wired magazine. The article and images are available online — I highly recommend them. The level of detail they were able to recover is truly amazing.

Gravestone of the Day: Jerusha Mitchell

Jerusha Mutchell, 1755, North Burial Ground, Providence, RI
In Memory of
Mrs Jerusha Mitchell
ye Wife of Mr James
Mitchell Decd Sep-
tember ye 22d 1755
in ye 47th Year of 
her Age.